"Meditation in a mug." That's premise of powdered oatmilk latte brand called Blossom that's being pitched by youthful entrepreneur in Chicago, with broader view of establishing mental wellness company that offers clinically based superfood blends to better manage stress. Billy Grady, who has some experience in cannabis biz, launched brand just as pandemic hit in Mar 2020, claims to have consulted over a dozen herbal medicine practitioners and combed through 100s of clinical studies to develop superfood-infused latte powders that help enhance focus and mental energy while alleviating stress and anxiety. The line employs guarana, L-theanine and GABA and is out in Cacao Latte (with cocoa, vanilla and maple), Matcha Latte, Chai Latte (black tea, ginger, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon) and Golden Milk Latte (turmeric, ginger and other spices). Cacao Latte is sweetened with maple syrup and the others get a lift from monk fruit.

Coca-Cola is still "trying to learn" whether its experiments in alc bevs "can be something bigger" that can "be executed with the company's bottlers around the world and be relevant to Coca-Cola and them," wrote Food Business News, citing ceo/chmn James Quincey at Bernstein's Strategic Decisions conference. "We have not reached that stage yet, but the experiments are interesting," said James. Outside of US, Japan's competitive make-up with "a series of local competitors" in soft drinks/NA bevs and alc bevs, led Coke to test alc bevs with Lemondo, a lemon-flavored alc bev product, which co's produced and marketed since 2019. "We basically said, 'look, if we could understand if there's a space with the consumer for something new, why would we not take advantage of this?'" Favorable margins are another bonus, he added, noting that "it's largely ingredients we buy anyway, cans, water, lemons, we only needed to buy the alcohol." In Brazil, Coke's getting ready to launch a premixed cocktails line, and "there's a big overlap in the distribution footprint between the soft drink industry and the alcohol industry." Each experiment still too early to "move the needle," wrote Food Biz News. "But if they work, and we can imagine a vision that if it's successful, (they) can be relevant to the core company, then we've got something that's worth talking about," James stated.

The final version of 2022 Beer Industry Update, our annual compendium of beer biz data and analysis, will be available on Jun 17. Order now to reserve your copy and save $150 off the regular price to receive the most comprehensive view of the beer biz in 2021 at the national, regional and state levels. The final version of Update includes lots more detail at state and regional levels, updated national trends accounting for the latest revisions from TTB, top international brewer stats, financial data for top cos and more. That's on top of 2021 key industry totals, shipments by brewer, brand and segment, retail trends, import/export trends, brand surveys and pr

: Paul Chibe is ceo of Pabst, not Eugene Kashper, as we wrote last issue. Eugene is now chairman of Pabst.

To promote its National Best Friends Day (it's Jun 8th if you didn't know) "Best Buds" campaign for Budweiser brand that breaks today, AB turned to 2 famous best friends: St Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, per AdAge. "Best Buds" campaign is "an homage to all best friends, who like Yadi and Waino, support each other on their journey to achieving their dreams-because having your bud by your side makes even the most challenging times better," per release. Wainright and Molina have been teammates for 17 years, won 2 World Series together, a combined 11 gold gloves and just recently "broke baseball's all-time record for most victories as a battery" with 203 wins, noted AdAge. Spot shifts from many in-game highlights and triumphs to the two teammates in street clothes at a bar having a laugh drinking Budweiser. AB will also promote campaign on Jun 8 along with online retailer Drizly, by offering a $5 discount for new customers that use code BESTBUDS. Consumers can also enter sweepstakes via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using tags #BestBuds and #Sweepstakes to win game tickets at any of the 17 teams AB's official beer partner.

Spirits' sustained success over the past 2 decades, and acceleration amid the pandemic, is well-documented at this point. But with spirits volume recently slowing to flattish in both NABCA (assn of control states) and Nielsen data, could those tides finally be turning? Rolling 3-month volume up just +0.2% in control states thru Apr (and down YTD - see May 25 issue); Nielsen spirits volumes slightly more positive at +1.7% for 12 wks to May 21. "If this continues, it could challenge our previous assumption that spirits would grow at the pre-Covid rate off the new higher base," Bernstein's Trevor Stirling wrote in report this morn. Recall, 2020 fast-tracked NABCA volume growth to "unprecedented +7.7%, and slowed to (a still strong) +4.7% in 2021." But yr-to-date 2022 volumes nearly flat. And while all-channel NABCA data still shows price mix +2.9% for 3 mos to Apr, Nielsen price mix dipped negative to -1.2%. It appears the "extraordinary trading up" of past 2 yrs in spirits is "plateauing, but not yet reversing," noted Trevor. Tho "no sign of trading down yet."

Lotsa Molson Coors and MC-related news to cover, from Coca-Cola ceo talkin' about alc bevs so far to new $65 mil warehouse comin' in Fort Worth, TX, and top MC management touting improved trajectory.

Tuff report from Cowen's Vivien Azer this morn, lowering estimates and headlining that Boston Beer's "guidance needs to come down." She based that on "current trends" in scan data, big slowdown in trends compared to 2 years ago and that "the hard seltzer slowdown continues to worsen…. We don't see much optimism for a strong hard seltzer summer," Vivien added, citing double-digit drop in scan data in Apr-May. So far, 2022 "is off to a shaky start for SAM." She now projects a full yr revenue decline of 1%, while Boston guidance is still for 4-10% shipments growth. Stock down another near 4% at presstime to $334. Down more than 2/3 from peak.